BPA vs. Need in a deep draft.

Good morning Bills fans! Been mulling this over and came to the conclusion that this year needs to be about addressing deficiencies, regardless of the argument, because it is a deep draft. Shocker...right?

This conclusion lead to some thinking on the most apparent deficiencies, the RUN D.

Though we've made a few moves to address this issue (extending Branch, moving Kiko, Spikes) I don't billieve that it's enough. We're missing the most important piece, a dominant DT. Don't get me wrong, I'm still a fan of Dareus and Williams, but they're obviously not the answer with plugging up the line and covering our LB's. They both provide great pressure on passing downs and get good penetration, but their strengths are too similar. We have to be able to mix them up with a true, bigger bodied run stuffer.

All of tis has made me rethink my draft strategy. Even though I am of the school of thought that the game is won @ the LOS, I kinda got carried away with Ebron and/or Evans. Again, the draft is deep @ TE an WR and OT, but not so much @ DT. That being said, there aren't any DT's rated in t top 10, so it further adds to possibility of trading back n picking up extra selections.

I don't think another DT is the answer. Dareus is coming into his own & Kyle Williams is Kyle Williams. Then you have Branch.

I'd rather add another DE. Mario is our only true , every down 43 DE. Hughes is our pass rusher but won't do much for run game.

I think they have their sights set on one somewhere in this draft. Someone that is stout against the run that can come in on 1st & 2nd down

Kyle is a big part of the problem with the run defense IMO and think the defense would be better having Branch and Dareus start with Kyle rotating in. I don't have any stats but teams seem to do most of their damage running right at Kyle who just isn't a run stuffer.

I agree that adding another DE should be a priority although it looks like they plan on going with a combination of Lawson and Hughes opposite Mario.

The only 'Need' I can see is a true RT, the thing is at RT there isn't much difference between talent at round 2 or round 3. There are no first round RT's as you dont' take RT's in round one, its a waste of a pick. LEFT tackle....yeah but we have a developing stud at RT And I can't see moving a guy that only gave up 1.5 sacks last year at LT to RT. And if we did you can bet your ass he would either hold out and demand a trade or there would be no way in hell to re sign him when he becomes a FA. Trade down, take BPA and lets do this thing

How about trading up and getting a player that can play both sides in Jake Matthews. If you have Glenn on the left, Wood at Center and Jake Matthews on the the right, your line is good for 5 years. But hey, what do I know?

Couldn't disagree with that more as you simply can't put a blanket statement like that on any position or talent

With as much passing as there is in the league today the difference between right and left tackle isn't as big as it used to be especially when you have a young QB

What sold Matthews for me was that he played left for 1 full season and Right for 1 full season. Meaning, this stud can play anyside. I agree with you about RIght or Left. Mathews comes from a Football family and has been a stud in College. I drool at having Cordy, Eric and Jake on one line.

People forget that we got a good prospect late in the year in Charles, that unlike Corbin Bryant I think he has a good chance of becoming more than a journeyman. I don't think we draft DL this year.

Lets hope Charles pans out. He has excelled wherever he has played. Good Post.

I stand by my arguement, but perhaps I got a bit ahead of myself. We still need a beastly DT to sure up our run D, but this may not be the year to pull the trigger. Maybe if there was a Suh type guy, but there's not.

Maybe grab a guy like Ellis or McCullers in the 3-4 range or ever guys like Kerr and Carrethers in the 7th or as UDFA's?

I stand by my arguement, but perhaps I got a bit ahead of myself. We still need a beastly DT to sure up our run D, but this may not be the year to pull the trigger. Maybe if there was a Suh type guy, but there's not.

Maybe grab a guy like Ellis or McCullers in the 3-4 range or ever guys like Kerr and Carrethers in the 7th or as UDFA's?

our run defense problems were mainly at linebacker and safety- take a wrong angle or fill the wrong gap and we got chunked

With the DTs we already have on this team, I’d be shocked if we drafted another one unless that was far and away the BPA. Reaching for a position need rather than BPA causes you to draft guys like Maybin and Troup.I think blaming last season’s run deficiencies on the DTs is misguided. Based on the defense we ran, I don’t believe it would have mattered if we had that 350 guy in the middle. Many if not all of the big runs we gave up were due to the LBs being over aggressive and not handling their assignments. They seemed to take themselves out of the play way more often than they were blocked out of the way. When everyone handled their assignment, I thought we actually weren’t all that bad against the run. Maybe my memory is failing me but I don’t recall a team constantly gashing us for 5, 7, or 10 yard runs, at least not at the end of the season when the players were more comfortable in the defense. There were a lot of 1, 2, 3 yard runs and then a 25+ yarder when someone messed up. Last year’s defense was about gap control, each guy had a gap they were responsible for. If one guy didn’t control their gap, the result was a big run. All of that being said, I have no idea if Pettine’s defensive philosophy would have been any different if we had that big Ted Washington type of DT.

Maybe my memory is failing me but I don’t recall a team constantly gashing us for 5, 7, or 10 yard runs, at least not at the end of the season when the players were more comfortable in the defense. There were a lot of 1, 2, 3 yard runs and then a 25+ yarder when someone messed up.

I think that was true in the middle of the season... but the Patriots ran at will in the final game. That might partly have been people not playing at 100% in that game, but it was definitely the case that we were too easy to run on. There were some stellar games against the run in the middle of the season where it did feel like teams never got more than a couple of yards, but then a missed assignment would result in a big one.

I think lawson sees time at DE on obvious running downs the dude was a beast at holding the edge vs TE and tackles on running plays from LB last year no reason to think he can't do the same from the position he played at nc state